Fluid-pressure-engine structure



May 5, 1925'.

J. B. THOMAS FLUID PRESSURE ENGINE STRUCTURE 7 Filed May 1 1922 3Sheets-Sheet 1' u t m m 3 J. B. THOMAS FLUID PRESSURE ENGINE STRUCTUREMay 5, 1925.

Filed may 16, SSheets-Sheet s Patented May 5, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. THOMAS, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR 'IO SAM GOLDBERG1\IA1\TU-, FACTURIN G COMPANY, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

FLUID-PRESSURE-ENGINE STRUCTURE.

Application filed May 16, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN B. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Nashville, in the county of Davidson and State ofTennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fluid-Pressure-Engine Structures; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to improvements in fluid pressure enginestructures, and more particularly to such as may be operated withcompressed air but which might also be operated with the use of steamoneobject of the invention being to so construct an engine that a wheelfrom which power may be taken and which is driven by engine members ofthe reciprocating type, shall constitute part of the valve means forcontrolling the passage of motive fluid to and its exhaust from thecylinders of the re ciprocatory engine members.

A further object is to provide simple and olticient means for reversingan engine of the type specified.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction and combinations of parts as hereinafterset forth and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings; Figure 1 is a view in elevationillustrating my improvements; Figure 2 is a plan view; Figure 3 is atransverse sectional view; Figures '4: and 5 are views of the valveplate, and Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view illustrating themanner in which the swivel-ed pipe connect-ions may be made.

In the drawings, 1 represents a base or bed plate on which pairs ofstandards 22, and El, are locatedthe former being located on anintermediate portion of the bed 1 and the standards 3 being located nearone end of the latter. Bearings a are provided at the upper ends of thestandards 2 for a horizontal shaft 5, to which the hub portion 6 of awheel 7 is secured and constitutes the driven wheel of the engine. as

hereinafter explained, and from which power may be taken in any suitablemanner for any desired purpose. The shaft 5 is provided at itsrespective ends with crank arms 8, 8 which project in opposite direc-Serial No. 561,388.

tions relatively to each other, and to the standards 3, cylinders 9, 10are pivotaily connected so as to be capable of oscillating pistons 11 insaid cylinders being connected, through the medium of rods or pitmen 12with the respective crank arms 8, so that when the pistons are caused toreciprocate respectively in opposite directions, the wheel 7 will berotated.

Valve plates 13 and 14 have machined inner faces which bear againstsimilar faces at respective sides of the Wheel 7 and said plates areprevented from displacement by means of beveled rings 15 secured to thesides of the wheel near the periphery of the latter. Spaced from therespective valve plates 13 and 14 are circular valve holding andshifting plates 16, 16, each having arms 17 at respective ends and thearms at respective ends are connected by cross bars 18, 19 and thus avalve holding and shifting frame is provided, the plates 16 of which areconnected with the valve plates by means of pins 20 secured to thelatter and passing freely through holes in the plates 16. Springs 21encircle the pins 20 between the valve plates and the shifting plates 16and serve to press said valve plates against the side faces of the wheel7 A link 22 is loosely connected with the valve holding and shiftingframe (said link being connected with the cross bar 18 of said frame)and the lower end of said link is pivotally connected with the upper endof a link 23, the lower end of the latter being pivotally connected withthe bed plate 1. The links 22 and 23 thus form a toggle lever betweenone end of the valve holding and shifting frame and the bed plate, andthe lower member 23 of this toggle lever is connected, by a rod orpitman 24 with a crank shaft 25 to which a hand lever 26 is secured. Thehand lever carries a detent 27 to cooperate with a toothed segment 28rigid with the bed plate. It is evident that when the hand lever islocked to the segment, the valve holding and shifting frame will be heldstationary, and that when the hand lever is moved in one direction, thetoggle lever will be operated to shift said frame as indicated by dottedlines in Figure 1 to partly turn the its its inner face with twooppositely disposed segmental grooves forming ducts 28 and 29 and at oneend of each of these ducts, an inlet port 30 is provided. The valveplate or disk 14 is similarly provided with oppositely disposedsegmental grooves forming ducts 31 and 32, a port 33 being provided atone end of each of these ducts. The valve plate or disk 14 is alsoprovided with two oppositely disposed segmental grooves forming exhaustducts 34 and 35 each of which is provided with an exhaust port 36. Theduct 28 of the valve plate 13 is connected with the duct 31 of the valveplate 14 by means of a duct 37 extending transversely through the wheel7, and said wheel is provided in one face with a duct 38 which connectsthe duct 32 of the valve plate 14 with the exhaust duct 35 in saidplate. The two inlet ports 30, 30 in the valve plate 13 are connected bya pipe 138 and with this pipe, an inlet pipe 39 (comprising telescopingsections) is connected through the medium of a swivel coupling 40. A.pipe 41 connects the ports 36 of the exhaust ducts 34, 35 and with thispipe, an exhaust pipe 42 (conr prising telescoping sections) isconnected, through the medium of a swivel coupling 43.

Flexible connections including intermediate pipe sections 44,telescoping pipe sections 45 and swivel coupling 46, connect the forwardend of the cylinder 9 with the rear end of cylinder 10, and similar pipeconnections including intermediate pipe sections 47, telescoping pipesections 48 and swivel couplings 49 connect the rear end 01. thecylinder 9 with the forward end of the cylinder 10. Pipe connectionsincluding pipe sections 50 and 51 and swivel couplings 52, connect theport 33 of duct 31 in valve disk 14 with the pipe sections 44, and thepipe sections 47 are connected by pipe connections including pipesections 53 and 54 and swivel couplings 55, with the port 33 of the duct32 in valve plate 14.

I have above referred to various swivel .'ouplings whereby the cylinders9, 10 may be permitted to oscillate and whereby the alve holding framemay be shifted, and in Figure ('3 of the drawing I have shown a form ofswivel coupling which may be employed. This may include a tube 56passing through a sleeve 57 and having threaded connection therewith,and this tube is provided at its other end with a head 58 engaged by aflange 59 projecting into one end portion of a pipe member or elbow 60.The sleeve 57 may be threaded exteriorly to enter the internallythreaded portion of a pipe member 61, and the latter is externallythreaded to enter the internally threaded portion at one end portion ofa sleeve 62, the other end of the latter being recessed to engage theflanged end portion of the p ne member 60.

lVhen the parts are in the positions shown in the drawings, compressedair or other motive fluid entering by the pipe 39 will pass into theduct 28 of the valve plate 13 and from this duct, it will pass throughthe transverse duct 37 in the wheel 7 and enter the duct 31 in the valveplate 14. The motive fluid will leave the duct 31 at the port at one endthereof and flow by way of the pipe connections 50, 51, 44 and 45 to thefront end of the cylinder 9 and the rear end of cylinder 10, thuscausing the piston in the cylinder 9 to move rearwardly and the pistonin the cylinder 10 to move forwardly and cause transmission of power tothe wheel 7 for rotating the same. During the movements of the pistonsas above described, air or other fluid will exhaust from the cylindersthrough the pipe connections 47, 48, 53, 54 to the duct in the valveplate 14 and from said duct it will pass through the duct 38 in the sideof the wheel 7 to the duct 35, and from the latter, it will escapethrough the exhaust pipes 41, 42. During the partial rotation of thewheel 7 effected above described, the relation of the transverse duct 37to the inlet ducts in the valve plates and the relation of the duct 38in said wheel to the exhaust ducts in the valve plate 14 will be soaltered that motive fluid will be delivered through the pipe connections53, 54, 47 and 48 to the forward end of cylinder 10 and the rear end ofcylinder 9 causing movement of the pistons in directions reverse tothose above described and a further half rotation of the wheel 7. It isevident that during the last mentioned movements of the pistons motivefluid which had previously passed thereto will flow in the oppositedirection and will finally escape through the pipes 41 and 42.

The operations above described will be repeated during the time thatmotive fluid is supplied to the engine to cause continuous rotation ofthe wheel 7*the reciprocating engine units operating effectually topositively propel said wheel and the wheel itself constituting anessential part of the valve mechanism which controls the operation ofthe reciprocating units. It is evident that by shifting the valve platesso as to change the relation of the ducts therein to the ducts in thewheel 7, the direction of rotation of said wheel may be reversed.

Slight changes might be made in details of construction of my inventionwithout departing from the spirit thereof or limiting its scope andhence I do not restrict myself to the precise. details herein set forth.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is 1- 1. in an engine, the combination of adriven power-delivering wheel, engine units of the reciprocating type,crank-and-pitman connections between said wheel and said engine units,and valve plates fitting against the sides of the wheel, there beingcooperating ducts in the wheel and said plates to control the flow ofmotor fluid to and from the engine units.

2. In an engine structure, the combination of two pivotally-supportedengine units of the reciprocating type, a driven powerdelivering wheelhaving valve ducts, driving connections between said Wheel and thereciprocatory members of said engine units, valve plates fitting againstthe sides of the wheel and having ducts in their faces presented to thewheel to cooperate with the ducts in the wheel and constituting valvemechanism, fluid pressure inlet means communicating with ducts in one ofsaid valve plates, exhaust means communicating with ducts of the othervalve plate, and pipe connections between the said valve mechanism andrespective ends of the cylinders of the two engine units.

2-3. In an engine structure, the combination of two pivotally mountedengine units of the reciprocating type, a driven powerdelivering wheelhaving valve ducts, driving connections between said wheel and the.reciprocatory members of said engine units,

valve plates fitted closely to the sides of the wheel and having ductsin their faces presented to the wheel to cooperate with the ducts in thelatter and constituting valve mechanism, fluid pressure inlet meanscommunicating with ducts in one of said valve plates, exhaust meanscommunicating with ducts of the other valve plate, and pipe connectionsbetween the said valve mechanism and respective ends of the cylinders ofthe two engine units, and means for shiftii'ig said valve plates toreverse the direction of rotation of the driving Wheel.

4t. In an engine structure, the combination with a support, a crankshaft mounted on said support, and two pivotally mounted engine units ofthe reciprocating type connected with said crank shaft for driving thelatter, of a driven power-delivering wheel on said crank shaft, valveplates fitting against the sides of the wheel, there being cooperatingports and ductsin said plates and the wheel whereby the wheel and platesconstitute a valve mechanism, and connections between said valvemechanism and both ends of the cylinder of each engine unit.

5. In an engine structure, the combination with a support, a crank shaftmounted on said support, and two pivotally mounted engine units of thereciprocating type connected with said crank shaft for driving thelatter, of a driven 'powendelivering wheel 011 said shaft between thecranks thereof, valve plates fitting against the sides of the wheel,there being cooperating ports and ducts in the plates and the wheelwhereby the wheel and the plates constitute a valve mechanism, means forpivotally supporting said valve plates, springs for pressing said platestoward the wheel, and connections between said valve mechanism and bothends of the cylinders of the engine units.

6. In an engine structure, the combination with a fixed support, a crankshaft mounted on the support, two engine units of the reciprocatingtype, means whereby the cylinders of said units are mounted tooscillate, and pitmen connecting the pistons of said units with thecranks of said shaft, of a driven power-delivering wheel on said crankshaft, said wheel having valve ducts, valve plates having ducts andports cooperable with the valve ducts of the wheel, a frame connectedwith said valve plates, springs between said frame and valve plates forpressing the latter against the sides of said driven wheel, means forrocking said frame whereby to shift the valve plates and effect reversalof the direction of rotation of the wheel, and connections between saidvalve mechanism and the ends of the cylinders of both engine units.

7. In an engine structure, the combination with a. fixed support, acrank shaft mounted on the support, two engine units of thereciprocating type, means whereby the cylinders of said units aremounted to oscillate, and pitmen connecting the pistons of said unitswith the cranks of said shaft, of a driven wheel on said crank shaft,said wheel having valve ducts, valve plates having valve ducts and portsc'ooperable with the valve ducts of the wheel, a frame connected withsaid valve plates, springs between said frame and valve plates forpressing the latter against the sides of said driven wheel, a togglelever connecting one end of said frame and the support, a manuallyoperable lever, connections between said. manu ally operable lever andone member of the toggle lever whereby to straighten or collapse thelatter and rock the frame to shift the valve plates and reverse therotation of the wheel, means for locking said lever, and connectionsbetween said valve mechanism and the ends of the cylinders of bothengine units.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN B. THOMAS.

\Vi tnesses V. S. Hones, G. F. DOWNING.

